There continues to be no love lost for Sean Spicer, who is currently on a whirlwind tour promoting his new book, The Briefing: Politics, the Press, and the President. Last Wednesday, he was heckled at a New York City Barnes & Noble by a man who called him a “garbage person,” and then just two days later in Middleton, Rhode Island, he was accused by a former prep school classmate of calling him a racial slur.
As a small group of people milled around waiting to meet the former White House press secretary, Newport native Alex Lombard called out to Spicer and said that they had gone to Portsmouth Abbey School together. Spicer offered a wave and asked Lombard how he was doing.
“Don’t you remember? You don’t remember that you tried to fight me?” Lombard asked, as the crowd laughed. “Yeah, but you called me [an N-word] first.”
Suffice to say, that changed the tone in the room. Security immediately began escorting Lombard away, but he continued shouting. “I was 14 then. I was a scared kid then, Sean,” he yelled. “I’m not scared to fight you now!”
The Newport Daily News later spoke with Lombard, who now resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and he told the publication that he had graduated from Portsmouth Abbey in 1990. Spicer graduated in 1989.
For his part, Spicer is vehemently denying Lombard’s claims. Regnery Publishing publicist Lauren McCue said that Spicer “can’t recall any incident like this happening” and chalked the incident up to a stunt. Likewise, his publicist said that Spicer was “taken aback” by the “outrageous claim” and claimed that he had no recollection of Lombard or ever having been in school with him.
You can watch the incident as it unfolded below, but be warned that the video contains strong language.
H/T Time, Newport Daily News